Ranftbecher by Anton Kothgasser
A Viennese Biedermeier beaker with a finely painted city view and a thick cut foot.
Anton Kothgasser (1769–1851) was a porcelain painter in Vienna who painted glasses as keepsakes and souvenirs. His beakers are the most typical glass of the Biedermeier. Examples are in the MAK in Vienna and the Corning Museum of Glass.
Materials: Clear glass with transparent enamel and gold
Manufacture: The glass was painted with transparent enamels and gilded; the foot cut with a cogwheel edge.
The thick foot with a cogwheel edge – the ‘Ranft’ – under a thin beaker.
The painted picture, often St Stephen’s Cathedral or a flower piece, in a gold frame.